Cello on the Subway

Randy found this video for Emy to encourage her in her daily cello practice.

Cold Sunny Day Hike

Squinkies with Hair!

OK, Kids, make you're I-REALLY-REALLY-LOVE-MY-NEW-SQUINKIES-FACE to thank your Auntie Carriane:

Hmmm...well maybe you should just make your I-KINDA-LOVE-THESE-NEW-SQUINKIES face:

Netflix Movies Worth Watching

Jodhaa Akbar [Bollywood]:

Castaway on the Moon [Korean]:

Inside Man:

Dear Zachary:

This is the best and worst documentary I have ever seen because I still can't really say that I can forget it, and I am not quite sure I would have ever watched it had I seen it before. Yet, it is very worth watching.

Mommy Did Something Quite Questionable

Firstly, I once, and only once, played Laser Tag at an arcade at a time in my life when everything was falling apart around me and I found so much healing enjoyment in it, that there is, and probably always will be, a fond place in my heart for running around and "shooting" things with extremely non-lethal extreme weaponry.

Secondly, my youngest has a fond place in her heart for Iron Man.

Thirdly, my oldest is getting of an age where her friends are always in the mood for a good game of chase.

Fourth and finally Fifth, my godmother gave me my very own money for Xmas (I really don't know why she's so nice to me), and Amazon had these Iron Man 2 Water Blasters on clearance only slightly more expensive than I was willing to pay for plain ole' water pistols, AND with free shipping.

So, taking these idea threads into account, I did a very bad thing and bought a few of these very evil violent WATER BLASTERS for my peace-loving kids for their summer birthday parties. I can't wait to hand these out and watch the mayhem.

Here's somebody's Youtube demo videos of what they look like when these dual-nozzle pump-action (no batteries, yay!) bad boys shoot.

Regular nozzle --

Flash Flood Nozzle --

Cannot wait til summer.

First Place Award

Emy won 1st Place (K-3rd grade) for her artwork submission to the 25th Annual Martin Luther King Jr Art and Poetry Competition. We went downtown to the ceremony today, and she received her award plaque and a $25 Michaels gift card.

Art Desk In Use

Iron Man...Hero Up!

Random Discovery

Randy discovered that Emelina won first prize for an art contest while reading the local newspaper this morning: --

Newspaper Link

The paper has a really bad copy. And we were quite thrown by her winning because we really didn't think this was one of her best kind of drawings. We think there will be an award ceremony for the school district so that she can receive a commendation, but as of now we haven't heard anything. You would think at the very least, the newspaper would have spelled her name right.

A Girl and Her Squinkies

"Look, Wolverine has his babies."

My First Big Grown Up Talk with the Emster

We were getting her clothes ready for school for the next day, and she was picking out a plaid frock dress. I asked her if it would be difficult to put snow pants over a dress, and if other girls wore dresses to school. Her eyes opened wide and said, "Yea, other girls wear fancy dresses to school, gowns, and really nice dresses!" She went on to tell me about "the kinds of girls" that wear said dresses and went down the list of who these dressy girls were, and how they wanted to "catch the looks" of boys. And I said how I doubted very much that boys in their class were even interested in dresses. She assured me that there were two boys who "caught their looks". And then she told me that there was even one girl (a skinny, straw bowl-cropped hair girl) who even kissed one of the boys, "AND THEY EVEN TOUCHED TONGUES!!" I responded as I would hope any other mother would when confronted with the subject of little nerdy 8 year olds making out -- I said "Ewwwww! That's disgusting!!!" and promptly changed the subject.

(Note: I am totally sharing this story for the harmless enjoyment of this blog's readers. Those of you who actually know Emy, I would appreciate if you don't repeat this story to her or ask her about it, since she might see it as a breach of confidence. Thanks. )

Self Portait in a Dusty Mirror

Randy got the kids a new art desk this weekend (as seen in the background).

Ha Ha Ha...Er...Um...Hmmm...

Went to my doctor yesterday (yeah, he wants to see me every 6 months, lucky me) and he joked with me about a woman who has my exact condition (asthma and GERD from hiatal hernia caused by my pregnancies) and who is in exactly the same shape as me (20 pounds overweight and unable to breathe properly without meds), but who is expecting her third baby, and he chuckles, "I don't know how to tell her that this baby might actually kill her...hehehe...", and then he turns to me and says, "Are you thinking about having any more kids?" and when I said, "No way", he said, "Good! That's very good!" And he laughed some more.

Which, of course, I laughed too, why not? But am I wrong that he just told me (while chuckling) that having another baby would kill me?!? I mean, thank goodness we are not planning to have another kid. It was a bit like a Ricky Gervais/Louis CK doctor skit moment for me.

Suddenly Not A Baby Anymore

One morning it just appeared to me that Kat was no longer a baby; she was a bona-fide kid.